Hatching and cross-hatching are artistic techniques in which artists use closely-spaced parallel or crossed lines to create tonal or shading effects in their work. By varying the length, angle, spacing, and thickness of these lines, artists achieve a variety of visual effects. Western artists developed cross-hatching in the Middle Ages, and many 15th-century old master prints contain examples of the technique. Which artist is said to have perfected the techniques in his woodcuts and engravings?More...

By January of 1919, members of the US temperance movement had been campaigning against excessive drinking for a century. Their efforts resulted in the 18th Amendment, which, when it went into effect in 1920, prohibited the sale—but not the consumption—of liquor. Prohibition spawned what John D. Rockefeller called "a vast army of lawbreakers" who profited from the illegal sale of alcohol, and the failed ban was repealed in 1933. What was delivered to the White House immediately after the repeal?More...

Fossey was an occupational therapist when, on a trip to Africa in 1963, she met famed anthropologist Louis Leakey, who encouraged her to pursue her dream of studying gorillas. In 1966, she began living a solitary life in the mountains of central Africa, gradually gaining the acceptance of the gorillas she observed and building a vast body of knowledge about their habits, communication, and social structure. In 1985, she was found hacked to death in her Rwandan forest camp. Who murdered her?More...

Quotation of the Day

The man who is not loved hovers like a vulture over the sweetheart of others.

This extravaganza of ice sculptures takes place from January 5 through February in the port city of Harbin, the second largest city of northeast China, located in Heilongjiang Province. The sculptures, using themes of ancient legends and stories and modern historic events, depict pavilions, temples, and mythic animals and persons. Located in Zhaolin Park, they shimmer in the sun by day, and at night are illuminated in a rainbow of colors. Theatrical events, art exhibitions, and a photo exhibition mark festival time, and wedding ceremonies are often scheduled in the ice-filled park.More...

It has spent some 175 years homeless, wandering many paths of taxonomy without a single branch to call its own. In the time since it was first described, this now-extinct, cone-shaped sea creature has known a number of presumed families — from mollusks ...More...

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